


Before the Inquisition: Cadash

by Zekeboy98



Series: The Inquisitor Saga [3]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:41:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26219533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zekeboy98/pseuds/Zekeboy98
Summary: Take a look at a defining moment in Campbelin Cadash's life before he became the Inquisitor: His family heist in the city-state of Tantervale.
Series: The Inquisitor Saga [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1489745
Kudos: 2





	Before the Inquisition: Cadash

“They keep coming in huh?” Campbelin noted.

The docks were being filled with ships arriving from Ferelden and he couldn’t help but wonder why these Fereldan refugees kept coming to the Free Marches. He had heard different rumors about what was going on with the nation, but the most prominent one was that a Blight was brewing in the South. Campeblin wasn’t quite sure what to believe at the moment, but as a dwarf he had heard how much of a nuisance the darkspawn were in the Deep Roads. Whatever the case was, these refugees were entering the city at a fast rate which meant that soon enough there wouldn’t be any space for them to stay.

“Campbelin!” a voice called out.

Campbelin turned around and was met by his younger cousin Jarod who seemed to be sweating.

“Took you long enough to find me.” Campbelin chuckled.

“My father sent me to get you.” Jarod explained. “He needs to discuss some things with the entire clan.”

“And here I was just getting started on my drink.” Campbelin sighed. “Alright.”

Campbelin lifted himself from the dock plank and started walking with Jarod. He tried handing the swig to Jarod, but Jarod wasn’t interested. The younger cousin barely drank which was rare amongst those in the Cadash clan, however on the rare occasions that he did, it was usually for a huge celebration. As they walked along the docks, they saw long lines of refugees giving all of their belongings to guards just to stay in the city and not be turned away. Campbelin looked in disgust as he saw the guards on power trips harassing the poor people, laughing and pushing them around. On their way passing through the dirty alleys of the city, they passed a homeless Fereldan refugee who stuffed his head into his arms. The young man looked up and saw the two dwarves passing by and saw the dwarven marks on their faces and winced. The young man must’ve had bad dealings with casteless dwarves back in his home country and thought Campbelin and Cadash would steal from him but to his shock, they didn’t. Instead, Campbelin fished through his pocket and flipped the young man a single sovereign. The young man scurried to the coin, picked it up, and looked to Campbelin with a shocked expression. A moment later, the young man jumped to his feet and ran out of the alley.

“That was nice of you.” Jarod said.

“Well he looked pretty hungry.” Campbelin shrugged. “Plus, I don’t need him knowing where we hide.”

Campbelin approached the wall where the young man sat and touched the wall. Guiding his hand across the wall, he found a portion of the wall that was slightly different shade of grey from the rest of the wall. Balling his hand into a fist, Campbelin banged on the portion rapidly four times and a larger portion of the wall to the left opened. Campbelin and Jarod looked around for a moment and dived into the entrance before it rapidly closed behind them. Inside was dimly lit, the only source of light coming from the end of the short corridor.

“Everyone here?” Campbelin asked.

“Yup.” Jarod answered. “We’re the last to arrive.”

The two finally exited the corridor and were met by family members finishing up their drinks and playing Wicked Grace as they cheered at Campbelin and Jarod’s arrival. Campbelin looked ahead at the far edge of the room to see his Uncle Jok rummaging through blueprints on a desk. He and Jarod approached the man and as he looked up to them he smiled.

"My boys are here." Uncle Jok said.

"Yes we are uncle." Campbelin sighed, still disappointed he couldn't get his drink on. "What's this all about?"

"Go ahead and grab a seat. I'll explain everything." Uncle Jok replied.

Campbelin shrugged and pulled up a chair from one of the Wicked Grace tables and took another swig of his drink.

"Thank you all for coming here this morning. " Uncle Jok clasped his hands. "I know we haven't had a family meeting for months, but what I'm going to tell you all is very important."

Uncle Jok took a brief moment to inhale.

"We've finally got a plan to get into _the safe_." he revealed.

If anyone wasn't fully listening before, the words _the safe_ got their full attention.

"Yes, I know." Uncle Jok grinned. "After almost a year of learning everything we need to know about it, we can finally take the prize that awaits us inside.”

Uncle Jok picked a large parchment from the table and showed it to everyone. At the center of the paper was a very detailed and huge ruby, nearly causing everyone to blush. Getting that ruby would set up their clan for life if they could find a willing buyer.

“Yes indeed.” Uncle Jok chuckled. “And soon it will be ours.”

“It can’t be that easy Uncle.” Campbelin spoke up. “The Devereux family basically owns all of Tantervale and have the city guard on their payroll. Even if we did manage to steal it from them, they would eventually find out it was us. No one else would dare try to steal from them in this time and day.”

“No one except angry, hungry, and desperate refugees.” Uncle Jok claimed.

Campbelin and the others raised their eyebrows, not sure of what Uncle Jok was getting at. Taking another swig of his drink, Campbelin adjusted himself in his seat and stopped slouching.

“It’s quite a simple plan actually that only requires about a dozen of us.” Uncle Jok explained. “First, we’ll need about half of the group to go all across the city rallying all those Fereldan folk. Tell them how they’re being taken advantage of, tell them how it’s all the Devereux family’s fault that they are being abused by the city guard and being taxed exorbitant prices just to stay in the city. If all goes according to plan, they’ll all protest outside the gates of the Devereux estate and we can enact the second stage: blowing up the gates using a group of 3. We’ll only do this after the guards inevitably start attacking the refugees but we’ll have to be careful not to get them hurt from our bombs. Once the gates are open, the angry refugees will go ahead and attack the guards and in the mayhem, we’ll enter our final stage: Sneaking into the safe. Most of the guards will be busy trying to put down the refugees but there’s bound to be many guards still around to guard the safe. A group of three will work their way there through the mayhem, dispatch the guards, and break into the safe to get the jewel. Whoever is a part of this group is free to take any coin they can carry as well, but don’t get greedy. Our main objective is to get the ruby.”

“What about the rest of us?” one of the Cadash members that was playing Wicked Grace questioned.

“I’ll need the rest of you to stay here and pack up our things.” Uncle Jok answered. “The city guard is bound to get more strict after all of this and they’ll be questioning everyone. We’ll be far gone in another city state before they even get an inkling that we were involved. From there, we’ll resume our normal business of lyrium smuggling.”

Everyone in the room looked around at each other and nodded their heads. The plan was pretty sound and it was bound to work in their favor. It also sounded really fun and would be the most entertaining thing in months for whoever was chosen for the mission. Campbelin sat back and drank the rest of his drink and gave a loud belch.

**No doubt he would be among the 12 chosen.**


End file.
